Translator: Jon
Editor: Silavin
Initially, these Ninth-Order Masters were worried that Lu Ye would’ve fled by the time they arrived.
While on their way, they heard that something seemed to have gone wrong with Hundred Wards Tower as it repeatedly resonated. As such, they set their minds at ease.
The tower’s resonance was deathly attractive to all Ward Cultivators.
Since Lu Ye was a Ward Cultivator, he naturally couldn’t resist the allure of the resonance. Therefore, he was most likely still outside the tower.
There was only one safe passageway that connected Hundred Wards City and the tower. Since they had arrived, as long as Lu Ye was still outside the tower, he wouldn’t be able to run away.
Certainly, these Ninth-Order Masters were not the only ones who were determined to kill Lu Ye. Some had arrived while some were still on their way.
Xia Liang and the others moved along the safe passageway and arrived at the tower. When they saw the big crowd outside the tower, they frowned.
Although they knew there must be a lot of people, the number of cultivators they saw still astounded them.
It was difficult to look for Lu Ye in such a place.
While moving forward, Tan Sheng secretly fished out a mask from his Storage Bag and put it on. Then, he passed one to Xia Liang, who understood his intentions and took it.
Although it was hard for them to look for a person with so many people around, it also allowed them to stay inconspicuous. By wearing masks, they wouldn’t alert their target.
On the other hand, Chu Yun and Zhou Pei exchanged glances and fell silent, for they rarely brought masks with them.
Soon, they arrived at the tower and parted ways to look around for Lu Ye. However, regardless of how hard they tried, they were unable to find the man.
Half a day later, Xia Liang and Tan Sheng came together and exchanged glances before shaking their heads.
“Why isn’t he here?” Xia Liang was puzzled. The tower’s resonance was deathly attractive to Ward Cultivators. Since Lu Ye was a Ward Cultivator, he was supposed to be there.
There was no way the information was wrong. Although it wasn’t first-hand information, the person who shared the news with him could be trusted.
The only explanation was that Lu Ye ran away after he realised that something was off.
This made Xia Liang feel helpless. It was hard to track someone down on the Cloud River Battlefield since it was vast. Without a treasure like the Tracking Disc, not much progress would be made.
He had wasted several months hunting Lu Ye down. Supposedly, he should be focused on cultivating so that he would ascend to the Real Lake Realm sooner. However, he was reluctant to let Lu Ye off.
In truth, he mainly wanted to kill Li Baxian to get revenge for Yan Xing. Nevertheless, before destroying Lu Ye, he wouldn’t dare to attack Ameliorate Valley.
Otherwise, the Raving Bladesmen’s Outpost on Spirit Creek Battlefield would fall into danger.
“Brother Xiang, do you think Lu Yi Ye might be inside the tower?” Tan Sheng looked up at the broken tower.
Xia Liang frowned. “Are you saying that he’s the one who’s been evoking the resonance repeatedly?”
Tan Sheng shook his head. “I don’t think so. Although Lu Yi Ye is pretty adept at the Way of Wards, he can’t possibly perform so well. Perhaps something is wrong with the tower. However, he might be inside the tower.”
They couldn’t exclude such a possibility. If Lu Ye was indeed inside the tower, that explained why they couldn’t find him.
“Let’s wait, then.” Xia Liang nodded. It would be best if Lu Ye was inside the tower as they just had to keep an eye on the entrance. As soon as Lu Ye appeared, they would discover him.
After making up their minds, they looked for a suitable spot near the entrance and waited patiently.
Meanwhile, Chu Yun and Zhou Pei apparently shared the same sentiment, so they decided to do the same.
The crowd broke into a commotion because the tower resonated on time once again. It had been six hours since the previous time.
Nevertheless, they soon quieted down. Even those who were not Ward Cultivators didn’t dare to speak loudly at that moment.
If anyone disrupted the Ward Cultivators from getting inspired, he would face public outrage. After all, 70 to 80 per cent of the people here were Ward Cultivators.
Inside the tower, Lu Ye was still energetic as he passed the tests one by one.
The further he progressed, the more difficult the tests became. Correspondingly, the rewards he obtained would also be better.
However, he realised that he had oversimplified things.
Previously, he believed that since he had so much Soul Cleansing Water with him, he could pass all the tests in one go even if the tower was complete and had 100 floors.
Nevertheless, he soon discovered things were different from his imagination.
It wasn’t hard for him to pass the tests in the tower because he would get a reward for every test he passed, and it would help improve his mastery of the Way of Wards.
The rewards were the main problem.
Every reward contained a lot of information and knowledge about the Way of Wards that rushed into his mind in the form of Enlightenment. Although he could ease off the impact and pressure with the help of Soul Cleansing Water, it became increasingly harder for him to bear.
The tower’s reward was like someone stuffed a lot of food into Lu Ye’s stomach. The Soul Cleansing Water could relieve the discomfort, but before he could digest everything, even more food was forced into his stomach.
The cycle went on and on. Even the strongest stomach could no longer bear it. This wasn’t something the Soul Cleansing Water could solve.
That was how Lu Ye felt. His head felt heavy, as though something weighing thousands of kilograms had been pressed against it. A large chunk of information was still undulating in his mind. Six hours of rest were not enough for him to digest everything.
If not for the fact that his soul was as tough as that of a Real Lake Realm Master, he would’ve collapsed. Any other Cloud River Realm Master couldn’t have held on for such a long time.
He didn’t feel this way when he entered the tower in the Heavenly Derivative Sect previously because it was the first part of the tower, so the rewards he acquired after passing the tests were not as immense.
At this moment, he no longer had any energy left to ponder on other issues. He didn’t even know how many tests he had passed. During the break, he did his best to digest the information in his mind and relieve the pressure on his soul.
However, the situation was getting worse.
His eyes were bloodshot, and his temples were protruding and bobbing. At first glance, one might think some worms were squirming beneath his skin. It was a terrifying sight.
Yi Yi noticed his anomaly. Although she was aware of the reason, she didn’t dare to disturb him.
Lu Ye had thought about leaving the tower and coming back next time.
Given enough time to digest everything he had acquired so far, he would see his mastery of the Way of Wards improving tremendously. By then, it would be easier for him to take on the challenges in the tower.
However, he wasn’t sure if his overall benefits would be affected if he did that. Since he hadn’t reached his limit yet, he decided to hold on for a while longer.
Anyway, a limit was meant to be broken through. Since he had the Soul Cleansing Water, he didn’t have to worry about his soul getting damaged.
Having made up his mind, he gritted his teeth and persevered.
As he moved up the floors, his head felt so swollen that it was as though it would explode at any moment. Whenever he almost reached the limit, he would always tell himself to hold on.
Now, it was more than just feeling as though something weighing thousands of kilograms had been pressed against his head. The sea of information he had yet to digest made his mind sluggish.
There was once when he passed the test, he instinctively received the reward without releasing Yi Yi and Amber first.
Since he didn’t get Soul Cleansing Water’s nourishment immediately, he felt as though life was a living hell for him. Fortunately, the excruciating pain made him recall Yi Yi at once, so he quickly released Amber from Spirit Beast Bag. After he consumed the Soul Cleansing Water, his pain was relieved.
Although the process was tough, the unbearable pain made his bloodshot eyes regain some clarity.
After recuperating for a bit, he quickly absorbed the information in his brain and got prepared for the next challenge.
Time seemed to be going by slowly. A long time later, after he passed a test, he instinctively released Amber. Yi Yi let him consume some Soul Cleansing Water and said gently, “You’ve succeeded, Lu Ye. We’re on the 33rd floor.”
“What?” Lu Ye parted his lips. He felt that 33 was supposed to be a goal, but he couldn’t recall what kind of goal it was.
The next moment, he came to his senses and asked, “Have I succeeded?”
“Yes.” Yi Yi nodded repeatedly. “You’ve succeeded! There’s no next floor.”
Lu Ye looked up and saw a fluorescent light.
Every time he passed a test, a light that contained the knowledge of the Way of Wards would appear.
He had the same experience when he took on the challenges in the tower in the Heavenly Derivative Sect previously.
The only exception was when he reached the 33rd floor, where there were two fluorescent lights.
One of them contained the knowledge of the Way of Wards while the other had 32 Basic Ward Flags.
No one had ever acquired such a reward from the tower. The quality of the Ward Flags was much better than anything Lu Ye had seen before. If they were used to build a ward, the power of the ward would be enhanced considerably.
Lu Ye still had all 32 Basic Ward Flags as he had never used them before. That was because the wards he built were mostly expendable ones, and he wouldn’t retrieve the Ward Flags. He couldn’t waste the Ward Flags given by the tower as they were rare treasures.
As he looked at the light, he had a feeling that the reward probably contained some Ward Flags.
He raised his hand and touched it. As expected, he acquired 32 Ward Flags again.
After studying them, he realised the quality of these Ward Flags was similar to those he had acquired previously. However, those were Basic Ward Flags back then, and the ones he had just obtained were of a higher grade. They could be considered Intermediate Ward Flags.